- FL: Regime seeks to ban “West Bank” from official vocabulary
Source: The New Arab [UK]
“A measure is being advanced in the Florida legislature to officially recognise the term ‘Judea and Samaria’ and ban ‘West Bank’ in official state documents. The name change, which has strong support in both chambers of the Florida state legislature, would mean that all official documents, including press releases, school textbooks, and library materials, would refer to the area west of the Jordan River by its biblical names, Judea and Samaria. … Supporters of the bill say it seeks to recognise a historic location, while critics say it is a tactic to erase Palestinian identity—and possibly further Israeli control over the West Bank, which it has occupied since 1967 (and expanding illegal settlements ever since).” (01/26/26)
https://www.newarab.com/news/florida-aims-ban-west-bank-official-vocabulary
- Myanmar: Military-backed party secures “election” “win” with opposition excluded
Source: ABC News
“Myanmar’s military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party claimed Monday that it had won the country’s first election since the army seized power in 2021, paving the way for a new government. The victory of the party led by a former general was widely expected after the vote excluded major opposition parties and dissent was tightly restricted. Also, 25% of parliamentary seats were automatically reserved for the military — effectively guaranteeing control by the armed forces and its favored parties. Critics say the polls organized by the military government were neither free nor fair, but an effort to legitimize its rule after seizing power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. The takeover triggered widespread opposition that dragged Myanmar into a civil war.” (01/26/26)
- SCOTUS to take up 1988 privacy law case
Source: USA Today
“The Supreme Court will decide whether a 1988 privacy law spurred by the disclosure of a high court nominee’s video rental history should be applied to digital videos watched on a free website. The court on Jan. 26 agreed to review a lower court’s ruling that the Video Privacy Protection Act can’t be used to sue a sports website for sharing a user’s video-watching history with Facebook. After President Ronald Reagan nominated Robert Bork to the high court in 1987, a journalist obtained from his local video store a list of films Bork had rented. Congress responded by creating stiff penalties for any ‘video tape service provider’ who discloses personal information about their customers without consent.” (01/26/26)
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/01/26/supreme-court-video-privacy-law/88302348007/
- Treasury cancels Booz Allen contracts after employee leaked Trump tax records; stock falls
Source: CNBC
“Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday said he had cancelled all Treasury Department contracts with the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, one of whose employees leaked the tax records of President Donald Trump, and the billionaires Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, to media outlets. Booz Allen Hamilton’s stock price dropped by 8% on the heels of the Treasury Department’s announcement. The department said it currently has 31 separate contracts with Booz Allen Hamilton, totaling $4.8 million in annual spending and $21 million in total obligations. … The department noted that between 2018 and 2020, Booz Allen employee Charles Edward Littlejohn ‘stole and leaked the confidential tax returns and return information of hundreds of thousands of taxpayers.’ The data breach affected about 406,000 taxpayers, according to the IRS. Littlejohn, 40, pleaded guilty in October 2023 to one count of disclosure of tax return information.” (01/26/26)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/26/trump-tax-records-treasury-cancels-booz-allen-contracts.html
- AZ: Idiot pol whines at AG for her support of lawful self-defense
Source: St. Joseph Herald-Palladium
“Senate Majority Leader John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, called on Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes to resign after she said people who feel [sic] they are in danger are legally allowed to shoot masked federal law enforcement officers. Mayes made these comments in an interview with 12News, where she said, ‘We have a Stand Your Ground law that says that if you reasonably believe that your life is in danger and you’re in your house or your car or on your property, that you can defend yourself with lethal force.’ … Her comments are ‘putting the lives of federal and local law enforcement officers engaged in such dangerous work at risk,’ the state senator explained. ‘She needs to recant her statement and resign in disgrace,’ Kavanagh said.” [editor’s note: Well, SOMEONE does – TLK] (01/26/26)
- Palestine: Israeli regime confirms recovery of last hostage’s remains from Gaza
Source: Fox News
“Israel on Monday confirmed that the remains of Staff Sgt. Ran Gvili, the last Israeli hostage held in Gaza, have been recovered and returned home after 842 days. Gvili, who was 24 at the time of his death, served as an Israel Police officer and was killed during fighting on Oct. 7, 2023, after confronting Hamas terrorists near Kibbutz Alumim, according to a statement from the Hostages and Missing Families Forum. His body was later abducted to Gaza. … The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said following the completion of an identification process conducted by Israel’s National Institute of Forensic Medicine, in coordination with police and military authorities, that officials informed the Gvili family that their loved one’s remains had been identified and would be returned for burial.” (01/26/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/world/israel-confirms-recovery-last-hostages-remains-from-gaza
- Republicans and MAGA: Carrying a Gun Is a Bad Thing Now
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Ryan McMaken“It’s increasingly difficult to imagine anything the Trump administration can do that conservatives and Republicans will not make excuses for. There is apparently no federal power and no act by the US’s standing army of federal cops that Trump supporters won’t endorse. The latest example is Republicans new assault on the Second Amendment and against private citizens carrying firearms. GOP mouthpieces are informing us that Americans are not allowed to be armed with a gun at a protest.” (01/26/26)
https://mises.org/power-market/republicans-and-maga-carrying-gun-bad-thing-now
- Two cities under siege
Source: The Watch
by Radley Balko“Remarkably similar scenes from Boston and Minneapolis, 260 years apart, show a federal government betraying its founding principles.” (01/26/26)
- The Alex Pretti shooting and the growing strain on the First Amendment
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Aaron Terr“The drumbeat of statements from the administration that are openly hostile to basic First Amendment rights should disturb every American. And when Americans see someone shot dead in the street shortly after recording federal agents — and then hear top government officials immediately justify the shooting before any investigation can begin — they will reasonably fear that exercising these rights carries not just legal risk but physical danger.” (01/26/26)
https://www.thefire.org/news/alex-pretti-shooting-and-growing-strain-first-amendment
- From Bush to Trump
Source: Notablog
by Chris Matthew Sciabarra“As I have argued, Trump’s project is less about controlling crime, and more about deporting those ‘illegals’ who don’t fit into his vision of a country dominated by white identity politics. … The irony of all this is that Trump once decried the administration of George W. Bush as ‘failed and uninspiring.’ But if it were not for the ‘innovations’ of Bush’s presidency, crafted nearly a quarter-century ago, Trump would not have had the instruments of domestic warfare and ethnic cleansing that he’s been using with impunity.” (01/26/26)
- Embrace Cultural Creative Destruction
Source: Bet On It
by Bryan Caplan“Almost everyone embraces ‘cultural’ critiques of capitalism. The left has ‘cultural studies;’;the right has the mantra, ‘We’re a country, not an economy.’ The upshot, in both cases, is that government ought to do something about culture. Freeze it in place? Force it to progress? Turn back the clock? My latest book of essays, You Have No Right to Your Culture: Essays on the Human Condition, flips this narrative. All of these demands for ‘reshaping culture’ are thinly-veiled calls for coercing humans.” (01/26/26)
https://www.betonit.ai/p/embrace-cultural-creative-destruction
- No Healthy Person Wants To Rule The World Or Become A Billionaire
Source: Caitlin Johnstone
by Caitlin Johnstone“No mentally healthy person wants to rule the world. Nobody with a functioning conscience and a working empathy center in their brain is interested in becoming a billionaire. We are ruled by the most dysfunctional members of our species. The most wounded, neurotic and sociopathic among us. The least wise, caring and insightful. What drives a person to claw their way to the top of a wildly sick society and become a lord of the dystopia?” (01/26/26)
- Trump’s Latest Regime Change Target
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
by Ron Paul“The Justice Department recently launched a criminal investigation into whether Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell lied to Congress about the costs of renovating the Federal Reserve’s offices. Many believe this investigation was launched in order to support President Trump’s effort to replace Powell, who he nominated to be Fed chairman in 2017, with a Fed chairman who will accommodate President Trump’s demands for lower interest rates. Almost all observers believe that President Trump’s desire to stack the Federal Reserve board with loyalists who will tailor monetary policy to his liking motivated the investigation of Federal Reserve Board Member Lisa Cook. President Trump is using allegations that Cook lied on a mortgage application as a justification to fire her.” (01/26/26)
http://www.ronpaullibertyreport.com/archives/trumps-latest-regime-change-target
- Does Britain’s Inflation Target Still Make Sense?
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Damian Pudner“For much of the decade before the Covid pandemic, Britain’s inflation problem was its absence. Prices rose too slowly. Policymakers fretted about deflation, secular stagnation and the limits of monetary policy. Interest rates hovered near zero. Quantitative easing was deployed not to restrain demand, but to stimulate it — often with disappointing results, unless you happened to own property or financial assets. Hitting the Bank of England’s 2% inflation target looked less like a ceiling than a distant aspiration. That world has gone.” (01/26/26)
https://fee.org/articles/does-britains-inflation-target-still-make-sense/
- On the Very Idea of a “Heritage American”
Source: Underthrow
by Max Borders“The NatCons are modern day Tories with a heavy dose of Southern Traditionalism. Most of what they call for belongs at the community level or private sphere, not the nation.” (01/26/26)
https://underthrow.substack.com/p/on-the-very-idea-of-a-heritage-american
- The Trump-Vance-Noem-Bovino Message to Americans: Obey or Die
Source: Common Dreams
by Thom Hartmann“Good and Pretti weren’t accidents, and they weren’t about immigration: these murders were unambiguous messages as clear as could be: ‘Get in our way and we will kill you, and nobody will do anything about it.'” (01/26/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/the-trump-vance-noem-bovino-message-to-americans-obey-or-die
- Who Sits at the Fed’s Table? Part II
Source: Macroeconomic Policy Nexus
by David Beckworth & Kaleb Nygaard“How FOMC meetings and the Federal Reserve’s internal governance have evolved over time.” (01/26/26)
https://macroeconomicpolicynexus.substack.com/p/who-sits-at-the-feds-table-part-ii
- Why the Fracturing of MAGA Doesn’t Matter
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Thomas Eddlem“Donald Trump has proven Horton’s Law, that politicians only keep their bad promises, true once again. He was always a New York Democrat billionaire, and he was never going to be a champion of working people or free markets. Trump is a Likudnik, not America First, and always was the former and never the latter. The Democrats were right that Trump was an agent of a foreign government; they just got the wrong government. Trump is an Israeli agent, not a Russian agent.” (01/26/26)
https://mises.org/power-market/why-fracturing-maga-doesnt-matter
- Capping Card Interest Rates Won’t Make Credit Cheaper
Source: The Daily Economy
by John Phelan“APR caps may sound consumer-friendly, but price caps just serve to cut off vulnerable households from legitimate lenders.” (01/26/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/capping-card-interest-rates-wont-make-credit-cheaper/
- Play Stupid Games, Win Stupid Prizes
Source: Townhall
by Derek Hunter“The entire ‘protest’ movement seems like a mating dance for people who otherwise wouldn’t ever get laid (not that they’re getting laid, but marching with people is about as close to the prospect of it as they’re likely to get). It’s hard for people who pay attention to what’s going on to care when someone gets hurt, or worse, when you know these people have taken to the street for what amounts to performance art.” (01/26/26)
https://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2026/01/26/play-stupid-games-win-stupid-prizes-n2670053
- Neo/liberal?
Source: Independent Institute
by Phillip W Magness“If you follow economic policy debates, you’ve probably heard a stream of attacks on something called ‘neoliberalism.’ A purported ideology, neoliberalism is often said to have guided American and Western economic policy since shortly after the end of World War II. It’s also blamed for a long list of economic grievances, ranging from real events such as the 2008 Financial Crisis to exaggerated claims about the ‘hollowing out’ of American manufacturing. Just how neoliberalism gave rise to these episodes seldom finds any coherent elaboration among users of the term. In fact, despite allegedly running the global economy for some 80 years, the ideology has almost no adherents who would willingly describe themselves as ‘neoliberals.’ Instead, it has become a catch-all word for almost every economic complaint, while lacking any semblance of a coherent definition.” (01/26/26)
- Donald Trump Wants This Chaos. It Means More Power in His Hands.
Source: The New Republic
by Michael Tomasky“To you and me, Renee Good and Alex Pretti are tragic victims of authoritarian overreach. To the Trump regime, they’re exhibits in building the case for martial law.” (01/26/26)
https://newrepublic.com/article/205655/trump-ice-chaos-minneapolis-power
- Where the Sidewalk Ends, the Lies Begin: On the Execution of Alex Pretti
Source: CounterPunch
by Jeffrey St. Clair“The lies aren’t even creative. They’re pro forma. They tell them to cloak the impunity given to the murderous agents of the state, who’ve been unshackled from the Constitution and given license to raid and ransack, detain and kill at will. But how long will even the most slavish devotees of this regime be willing to swallow the lies without convulsing from deep-welling nausea? The right-to-lifers? The evangelicals? The NRA? How much will they tolerate? After all, federal agents disarmed Alex Pretti, then they shot him. You couldn’t script a more harrowing parable for the NRA’s warnings about the sanctity of gun rights for all these years. Will this heinous killing finally make them turn on Trump? Don’t count on it.” (01/26/26)
- The Trump Administration Wants Dead ICE Officers
Source: The American Prospect
by Ryan Cooper“An important mythical figure in Nazi Germany was a man named Horst Wessel. He was a mid-level Nazi street thug who was killed by communists over an unpaid rent dispute. Nazi propaganda turned him into a hero of the German nation, and the ‘Horst Wessel Song’ became the official Nazi anthem. The Trump administration is doing all in its power to create a similar fake martyr in the form of dead Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers. It’s central to the conservative victimhood complex: In order to violently dominate others, they must create a false narrative in which they are also the victim at the same time.” (01/26/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/01/26/ice-trump-minnesota-renee-good-alex-pretti/
- Victim on Trial: from Jennifer Levin to Renee Nicole Good
Source: Liberal Currents
by Samuel Freedman“The Trump administration is deploying a time tested playbook against women who were murdered.” (01/26/26)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/victim-on-trial-from-jennifer-levin-to-renee-nicole-good/
- Reining in the Courts
Source: Law & Liberty
by Jay Cost“What is the proper role of the judiciary in American political life? There has never been a clear answer to that question, even among the founders. The Constitution itself has relatively little to say about the judiciary, delegating most of its design and much of its authority to congressional action. Alexander Hamilton in Federalist #78 argued that the judiciary could resolve disputes arising under the Constitution. But James Madison in Federalist #51 suggested that many such questions should be settled by the political process. Thomas Jefferson, in retirement, was aghast at the sweeping rhetoric of McCulloch v. Maryland, in which his cousin, Chief Justice John Marshall, employed Hamiltonian reasoning to legitimize the Bank of the United States.” (01/26/26)
- How to Stop the Fascism
Source: The Contrarian
by Jennifer Rubin“If Americans, inspired by Minneapolis, collectively refuse to allow politicians to treat this as business as usual, then Renee Good and Alex Pretti will rightly be remembered as martyrs who gave their lives to the cause of restoring democracy.” (01/26/26)
- Reason Roundtable, 01/26/26
Source: Reason
“When Did Republicans Stop Caring About Gun Rights?” (01/26/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/01/26/when-did-republicans-stop-caring-about-gun-rights/
- The Kyle Anzalon Show, 01/26/26
Source: Libertarian Institute
“ICE Using AI to ID Targets, Breaking Down Trump’s WEF Speech.” (01/26/26)
- Bulwark Takes, 01/26/26
Source: The Bulwark
“Sarah Longwell: The Alex Pretti Killing is Actually Breaking Through.” (01/26/26)
- Rising, 01/26/26
Source: The Hill
“Kash Patel, Kristi Noem, slammed by gun owners after Alex Pretti killing: Robby Soave.” (01/26/26)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/5705592-rising-january-26-2026/
- Parallax Views, 01/26/26
Source: Parallax Views
“Trump’s ICE Age: The Killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti w/ Sheldon Richman.” (01/26/26)